Chanel aligns pricing

Global French fashion house Chanel has announced that it will be aligning its prices globally come 8^th April, explaining their recent move to remove handbag prices from the website last week. Chanel will undoubtedly increase prices in some regions, aiming to vary its prices by less than ten per cent globally.

It is suggested that multiple product categories’ pricing will be globally regulated by the end of 2015 in order “to prepare the brand for the next ten to 15 years”, said Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion. However, the fashion house’s iconic Boy bag, 11.12 and 2.55 will be the first to be priced equally, which will importantly avert authenticity issues caused by pricing. 

Currently, Chanel sells its accessories and ready-to-wear collection in 190 boutiques and concessions, only selling beauty products online, so this change will certainly push the brand towards e-commerce. This will not happen, however, until “we are ready”, expressed Pavlovsky to WWD. “Our products need to be touched, tried, experienced. We can’t at the moment do this online.”

This plan will mean that although in China the yuan prices will fall, throughout Europe the alignment will lead to an increase. Consequently, the Boy bag that once cost €3,100 will now set you back €3,720 but in yuan will now cost around ¥26,000, reduced from ¥32,700.

The changes will reduce the number of die-hard Chanel followers who previously travelled to other countries to purchase “cheaper” items. One must mention that those from the United States, Japan, United Kingdom or Canada will not see a significant change, as aligned prices are already in place.

Although it has not been clarified when Chanel will unveil its e-commerce boutique, it has been suggested by Pavlovsky that they will need at least 18 months “to develop something worldwide and powerful”. They will not be wasting any time because Chanel and its creative director Karl Lagerfeld know all too well that they “are in a global world where people are moving very fast”.

Aura Montana